The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, Francisco Bustillo, and of Brazil, Carlos França, held an official meeting on June 9, 2022, in the city of Los Angeles, where they expressed their satisfaction with the excellent state of the bilateral relations and highlighted the historic ties of friendship and cooperation that unite both peoples.
Joint statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Carlos França, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, Francisco Bustillo
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, Francisco Bustillo, and of Brazil, Carlos França, held an official meeting on June 9, 2022, in the city of Los Angeles.
Both ministers expressed their satisfaction with the excellent state of bilateral relations while highlighting the historical ties of friendship and cooperation that unite both peoples.
They agreed that the current level of the Mercosur Common External Tariff, even taking into account the exceptions to it, does not reflect the current needs of the bloc and that a reduction in it will contribute to increasing the levels of competitiveness and productivity of their economies. In this sense, Uruguay indicated its support for the proposal for the horizontal reduction of the Common External Tariff under discussion in Mercosur.
They agreed on the need to modernize the bloc and on the centrality of its external agenda, which in order to acquire greater dynamism must have, among others, flexible formats and mechanisms that respond to the specificities of different situations and attend to the interests and sensitivities of each of the four partners.
Within this framework, Uruguay reported on the developments in the field of its external agenda, in particular those that it has been maintaining with countries outside the zone with the aim of strengthening and improving the country’s international insertion.
Brazil indicated its willingness to give priority to dealing with the issue of negotiating flexibilities in the Mercosur sphere and reiterated the importance it attributes to the intensification and diversification of the bloc’s external relations agenda.
Both countries reaffirmed the importance of expanding their bilateral trade agreements in order to expand trade flows and provide predictability and legal certainty. In this sense, they agreed on the conditions for preferential access to goods produced in free zones and special customs areas located in the Eastern Republic of Uruguay and in the Federative Republic of Brazil, as well as the technical requirement of yerba mate.
With regard to the relevant issues on the bilateral agenda, they pointed out the importance of infrastructure and sustainable development projects between both countries, among which the development of the Laguna Merín and Rio Cuareim basins stands out, the second bridge over the Rio Yaguarón and the refurbishment of the Barón de Mauá International Bridge, as well as the feasibility of navigation in Alto Uruguay.
They agreed to resume the prompt convocation of the Border Committees and registered with satisfaction the convening of the First Meeting of the Trinational Border Integration Committee.
They highlighted that the authorization of the Uruguay-Brazil Waterway for the effective relaunch of commercial navigation between the two countries constitutes a transcendent step for bilateral physical integration and recalled the meeting between the Presidents of both countries, Luis Lacalle Pou and Jair Bolsonaro, on 3 February 2021, which constituted a fundamental milestone in the progress and realization of these issues.
They welcomed the delivery to the Brazilian authorities of the economic feasibility studies for the Uruguay-Brazil Waterway project within the framework of the Investment Partnership Program (PPI).
They registered the increase in the participation of electricity in bilateral trade, congratulating themselves on the ministerial meetings held to date, in areas such as energy marketing, electric mobility and renewable energies. They underscored that energy has proven to be a key factor in strengthening bilateral relations as well as in strengthening regional integration in infrastructure at the Mercosur level.
Carlos Franca Francisco Bustillo
Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister of Foreign Affairs
Federative Republic of Brazil Eastern Republic of Uruguay
